Description: Uh oh! Looks like someone thinks she fought dirty! Angel Papillion can't allow anyone to think that! She's a face... or she would be if she were a real professional wrestler! Apologies need to be made. Secrets are accidentally revealed. What's that? Did someone use the word 'like'? Find out all this and more inside!
People can be helpful, even though Alexis felt she didn't warrant the help. She upset her opponent, and that... well it bothers her. It's okay for her to be down on herself, and it's okay to make a comeback, but he really thinks she cheated and that's just not right! Barely able to sit still while the nurse took care of her beautiful new stomach wound, she was up and running immediately after the bandage was secured.
"DO /NOT/ RUN!" The nurse is at least making an attempt at keeping the young girl from injuring herself further, but Alexis is paying no heed. She's got something she's got to take care of.
Using a towel she swiped from the infirmary (and one which she has every intention of returning once she washes it), she wanders around the campus, carefully cleaning the stiletto that was left upon the roof. Even if he decides to hate her and not accept her apology, he should at least have this masterfully crafted weapon back.
She's about given up when she reaches the dormitory hall. Her body aches, her bed is close! She could just go and lay down for a little while... but no.
She's determined to continue on until she finds him. But... maybe he had the same idea she just did! Maybe he's in his dorm room! So the trek continues down the hall, trying to make it to the door at the back so she can check to see who's about.
She doesn't have to go very far before the very one she intended to find exits the door to the dormitories anyway. Along with him is a couple other boys, murmering to themselves. Vince is still obviously upset over the way things went, and his right hand is set over the vacant spot on his belt that once had a rosette hanging.
But then they notice the girl. Each of them freeze, and the tallest male steps up beside Vince and mumbles something to him. The young, rakish swordsman lifts his hand to gently ward the other off, and he just gives the gymnast a bland look. And then the trio resume walking, apparently with every intention to go right past her. To bump her out of the way, if necessary.
"E-excuse me..." This, Alexis stammers at Vince, trying her hardest to mask her accent now. If he's annoyed at Angel Papillion, maybe he won't be annoyed at Alexis. "I..." Teeth nip daintily against her lower lip and she sighs. Opening the towel, she holds it out toward Vince, eyes behind the mask downcast. "I wanted to return this to you. I know you're upset with me, but that's no reason to lose something that obviously means something to you."
The very obvious snubbing is getting to her though. Alexis doesn't normally have people snub her! She's a very friendly girl! People like her!
"I... I'm /sorry/. I know you think I did something horrible... I wasn't playing any games though! I swear I wasn't! You were doing exceedingly well and I was doing pretty badly out there... and then I just tried to fight my hardest. I knew that you would win in the end anyway, you've obviously had way more training than me. You were spectacular out there and..." She's nervous. She's babbling. She's got a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, and she doesn't like it one bit.
Her speaking gets the trio to stop before bowling right through her. Vince glances to the exceedingly tall boy beside him, then to the shorter one on the other flank. He then looks back to the girl and turns his head aside, eyes shutting. More snubbing. "Keep it. To those who fall against me, I leave them a rosette as a memento. Keep a tally, if you like."
The two lackeys snicker to each other. Burn!
But then Alexis continues on with things, and Vince's bright eyes open again to study her. "...I'm not entirely convinced," he replies. "Your recovery when you seemed about out... your.. preening and posing..." Pause. Eyes narrow. "You withstood the Phantom Laceration. -No one- withstands the Phantom Laceration."
Alexis doesn't bother looking up at the burning comment. Her eyes remain averted, and it's obvious to anyone that notes her posture that she feels just awful. She's losing a friend before she really had the chance to call him that! Tears well up in her eyes, and she just nods, carefully folding the towel over the blade and giving it another careful rub.
"I would rather have received such a beautiful weapon under different circumstances," she says quietly, choking back a small sob.
"I was nearly out! I... I had to struggle to get back up onto the roof! I worked very hard after that. I... I know you didn't mean to kick me so hard that I went flying off or anything. You're not a mean or vindictive person. I..." She breaks off with a sob, and just keeps her eyes on the floor. She's in pain both physically and emotionally over this fight. Maybe it was a really bad idea to challenge him.
"Oh, give it a rest," sighs Vince, rolling his eyes skywards. "You -flipped over me- to land back on the roof all on your own, then posed for the crowd. Then you used that moment where I let my guard down to start throwing me around." Vince is still very unconvinced. And she didn't offer any explanation to how she didn't go down in the face of the Phantom Laceration. That -baffles- him. He's -sure- it struck her, but she not only remained standing, but she kept fighting! He should consider just stop fighting people with a foil instead of his actual rapier.
But then she's crying. That's... weird. He isn't sure how to handle that. He looks to the tall lackey, who shrugs at him. He then looks to the shorter one, who offers an, "I'unno." Vince turns his attention back to Alexis and frowns. "...What do you want me to do? If you claim you weren't trying to cheat, what would you like? A rematch?"
"I.... I don't know!" Alexis clutches a hand to her stomach where it's bandaged and takes a slow, deep breath. Her eyes close, but she still doesn't look up at him. "I'm a gymnast! That's what we do! We flip and pose and smile even when we don't want to!" When the words leave her mouth, she gasps. Her face blanches and she drops the towel to the ground. Peridot eyes widen like those of a deer caught in the headlights and she covers her mouth.
Sighing, she turns away to start trying to compose herself. Now she's /really/ gone and blown it. He's gonna hate her. "I could only withstand that superbly scary move of yours because part of my training is to work on defensive tumbles. Ones that will help me through some really rough stuff. It's the way I moved into the attack that saved me from becoming a pile of goo on the rooftop..."
Vince frowns a little more. "I see." Well, he was pretty sure she was Alexis from the beginning from that distinctive accent, but now he's completely positive. Has to be her. The hair even looks like her. "So, now what? Let's say I believe you - which I still don't - what do you want? You got your fight." His left hand sets to the hilt of his actual rapier, elaborate and beautiful as it is. "You have your memento."
Alexis feels severely sick to her stomach. He knows. He hates her. He's going to tell her secret! She's still got a terrified look in her eyes, but she can't tear them away from him now. "I want to apologize. I... I would like to fight you again sometime, if you'll allow it. I..."
This is when her eyes shift over to the side and she looks down with a sigh. "I want to be your friend, Vince. I didn't mean to make you hate me! I just wanted an opportunity to experience what you can do up close and personal like. I really thought I was doing badly out there. You had me nearly worn out with just a few swift moves of your foil and it looked like I was barely doin' anything to ya until I forced myself to keep going despite the fact I knew that as soon as you hit me again I would have to give up."
"Later, then," Vince says. "When you're... not injured." He's noticed her constantly holding her midsection. "I'll prove to you what I'm capable of -without- sparing you sympathy or giving you that cheap window." His expression is pretty flat and unconvinced with her, still. "So come find me when you're no longer injured. We'll see about it then." He's not decided whether he'll be wielding a foil or his actual rapier, though. He'll think about it later.
Her, wanting to be his friend. Pah. What a ploy.
"Vince... wait..." Alexis looks seriously hurt by the fact that he seems to hate her. Her shoulders droop, and she releases her hand from her stomach. "I swear I wasn't being cheap! I'll prove it to you! I... I would really hate for you to dislike me over this. I... I like you, Vince! I love that you have such finesse when fighting, and that even though you were wielding only a foil, you could still cause it to hurt so much, because of the way you performed that moulinet..."
She sounds like a crazed fangirl. Maybe she is. "I'll concede that maybe I shouldn't have sprung at you while you were coming to help me though. I could've handled that a lot better." Oh, the tears are about to start again. She can't help it. Losing a friend before you can really make one sucks. At least in Lexi's little world.
She said something dangerous in a highschool setting. She sai she 'likes' him. This gets a second glance from the fencer, blinking his eyes at her. "You... do?" Sure, it's not uncommon for him to hear that from a girl, but one he suspects of using cheap shots to win a fight? That seems odd. He gives his head a shake to get rid of the mildly stumped look on his face to replace it with the bland mask again. "We'll see how you really fight later, then. When you're not given the chance to use dirty tricks." Obviously Vince is one who favors honorable fighting.
"I wasn't using dirty tricks!" Alexis turns away and chokes on another sob. This isn't turning out well at /all/! "I swear to you, Vince. I swear to you with the knowledge of my secret that I wasn't." A very meek, "Pleasedon'ttellanyone," comes out rather quickly from her before she hiccups and sniffles. "And yeah! I do! You're the first person in this entire school to be nice to me! The first one that thought I could make it on the cheerleading squad! The first one that's invited me to anything that looks like a school function! You're really sweet and sophisticated and you remind me a lot of this son of an aristocrat I met once. Only..."
Cheeks flaming a bright shade of pink, she sighs. "Only you happen to be cuter. I'm not just saying that either. I even complimented you the other day!"
Vince screws up his expression. Crap. She's using the 'please don't hate me, I wanna date you!' card on him. He looks over to the taller one for advice, and he ges another shrug. He looks to the shorter one, and he gives an even more bewildered shrug. Vince exhales a breezy sigh and considers how to respond to it. But then the shorter one is motioning at her while her back is turned. Vince gives him a curious look, and the boy keeps motioning at her expectantly.
Bah!
Vince slips a little closer to her back and very gingerly lifts a hand to set to her shoulder. "Ahem.." Awkward little clearing of his throat. "..Well.. err.. thank you. We'll just... see what happens when we rematch. Soon. Okay?," he asks, voice softened a little. "Just see me when you're feeling better."
O.O
Alexis never said she wanted to date him! Just that he's a really nice guy and she wouldn't mind being his friend! The fact that he's incredibly cute is just a bonus in her mind! With her back turned to the boys though, she has no idea that it's what they're thinking. No idea that Vince is being told to be nice to her or anything of the sort.
As his hand sets to her shoulder, her body tenses a little, expecting him to fuss at her again or worse yet, start another fight now to stop her from feeling so miserable. When he speaks, she exhales a soft sigh of relief and turns her head just enough to gaze up at him through tear-filled eyes. "The nurse said I'd be okay in a few days. We can rematch then if you'd like, just please don't impale me again? It really, really hurts." Pausing the gymnast looks down at her bandaged stomach and her lip wavers. "I guess you were really frustrated at me, huh?"
No! No, they all heard it! She "likes" him! She's totally into him! And that's partially why he's being nice to her. Vince is feeling kind've guilty for snubbing her now. She has a crush on him! ..Well, as far as he knows, anyway. "Just take it easy until then. I won't use my real rapier on you... but the rosettes are a part of fighting me. It's how I've adapted with Rose Dansant. So if you're afraid of being cut, don't fight me." Simple as that. Fencing is one thing, but fighting? Fighting is when the rosettes come out.
but then his two lackeys are giving him looks. He looks between the two helplessly, then sets his gaze back on Alexis. "But.. you're.. pretty?"
Double facepalm.
"Oh!" Alexis brings a hand up under her mask to wipe at her tears, and shakes her head. "I don't mind if they slice into my skin or anything like that. It's the frustrated, angry impaling that I don't think I'm fond of." Kneeling down carefully, she scoops up the towel and offers it out to him again. "You made this. I would feel bad about keeping it under such circumstances. I'd really like if you'd give me one in friendship, but I can't keep it if you're angry with me."
His very odd and blunt compliment actually gets a sort of sad giggle from her and she looks at him again. A very quiet and polite, "Thank you," is offered in return.
Vince shrugs his shoulders at her and slips back from her. "No. It's yours. I leave a rosette with everyone who falls to me." He really does make that many of them. He even has his own cast for smithing them! Apparently he takes his family's heritage pretty seriously and has a knack for it, himself. "...I can't promise you won't get impaled again, but it will hopefully not be angry."
Came off -so- weird-sounding. The lackeys snicker.
But then Vince is edging back a little more from her. "So... see you in a few days?"
"Do I have to keep the next one if I fall to you again?" Alexis gives him an odd look at this. How embarrassing would it be to have a huge collection of exquisitely made knives, just because he's more experienced at fighting than she is! "I... didn't figure you could promise that at all, but I thought I'd ask anyway."
She notices him edging away and she nods. "Yep! A few days! I look forward to it, and... and..." She glances at him briefly before quickly staring at the floor. "Thank you... for... giving me a chance."
Log created on 21:06:41 01/06/2008 by Alexis, and last modified on 18:34:38 01/07/2008.